Posts Tagged ‘Rich Kalonick’

Some WP Hints and the LPL Tucson Recap

A few bits of randomness this morning:

-When you leave a comment, you only need to fill in the web site field if you have a blog or personal web site that you’d like people to be able to visit when they click on your name. If you don’t have one, you can just leave it blank.

-Feel free to use whatever screen name you were previously using in the name field.

-Our old avatars (pictures) aren’t showing up here because WordPress does not recognize our Blogger/Google accounts. Several siestas have recommended going to Gravatar.com to get a free universally recognized avatar to use. I think we all miss seeing the beautiful faces next to the comments!

-Did you know that you can respond directly to another siesta’s comment by clicking “reply” underneath her comment? (Otherwise, you’ll just scroll down to the bottom of the page and look for the comment box.)

-Unfortunately, we lost the comments that were left on the blog over the weekend. I’m so sorry about that. Please feel free to type your comment again if you would like to.

-Did you know that Rich, our wonderful Living Proof Live photographer, and his wife just had their first baby? She was born a few days before the Toronto conference. (That’s why we didn’t have a recap video for that event.) Rich has promised to send me some pictures of Baby Polly to share on the blog. She is beautiful! In the meantime, please enjoy the Living Proof Live Tucson recap video. Thanks, Rich!

Living Proof Live – Tucson AZ from Rich Kalonick on Vimeo.

Share

Living Proof Live – Stockton, CA

Living Proof Live – Stockton from Rich Kalonick on Vimeo.

Share

Living Proof Live – Portland


Living Proof Live – Portland Oregon from Rich Kalonick on Vimeo.

Share

LPL New Orleans


Living Proof Live – New Orleans 2009 from Rich Kalonick on Vimeo.

Share

New England Nights Recap


New England Nights Tour 2008 from Rich Kalonick on Vimeo.

Click here to see more on Rich’s photo gallery. Thanks, buddy!

Share

Wednesday Play-by-Play Day







7:40 AM ā€“ Checked out of Holiday Inn Express, Durham, New Hampshire. Never got my make up on. Wrote Siestas too long. Hairā€™s gonna need to go in a clip.

7:45 AM ā€“ Event team loads into a mighty caravan of minivans. Vans all have signs on them. Event teamā€™s van says ā€œSecret Servantsā€ (i.e. Secret Service, get it?), Praise team sign says ā€œPraise Corpā€ (press corp, get it?) and ours says (you better know that I didnā€™t come up with any of this. It was Rich) ā€œBeth Force One.ā€ We are the van with all the baggage. Oh, Lord have mercy. Is that ever an understatement. One of our vehicles is unmarked because it belongs to our coworkerā€™s fiancee who joined us yesterday. Ronā€™s calling it The Decoy.

7:47 AM ā€“ Missed exit.

7:48 AM ā€“ Lost.

7:52 AM ā€“ In Maine. Not on our event schedule. Turned around.

7:57 AM ā€“ Finally made it back to bridge. As we drive up, bridge closes, lifts and lets tug boat through. Making good time.

8:10 AM ā€“ Starving. Got a lot of miles behind us. Road warriors. Stop for breakfast at The Friendly Toastā€¦in Durham. Thatā€™s right. In DURHAM. Weā€™ve not made it out of the city yet.

8:30 AM ā€“ Fantastic menu. Got served one of the best danged breakfasts of our entire lives. Nicest waiter Iā€™ve ever had with a ā€œTeardrops of Satanā€ T-shirt on. Ate well-done veggie omelet with fried country potatoes and HOME MADE thick wheat toast with a side of gingerbread waffles and pomegranate syrup.

10:15 AM ā€“ finally paid out and made it back to vans. Parking tickets on all vans. Went over our two-hour parking meter by five minutes.

12:00 Noon ā€“ Tooling down I-84 West well on our way. Looks like we may not make it to the Big Apple by lunch time. We only have 137 miles to go.

Miscellaneous:
Mad at Travis. Heā€™s in other van with praise team and heā€™s baiting me. I rode in their van yesterday but am in van with Rich and Ron (our team member who does security) today. Trav sent me a cell pic of Dunkinā€™ Donuts bag. They stopped without me. They only stopped because they know I love it. Theyā€™re so mean. Right after that, I saw the Po-Po (Ronā€™s a former law enforcer and said thatā€™s not disrespectful. I asked him before I printed it. I am a respectful law-abiding citizen who cries when she gets stopped for a traffic violation.) So I texted Travis and told him I hoped they got pulled over by the Po-Po for Dunkinā€™ Driving.

Sent Trav and team a pic of my open Bible and told them to read theirs.

Rested my eyes a little while. Whole back seat to myself. Heard Ron singing with the Supremes on satellite radio. Way out of character. Made me riotously happy.
Stopped at Tim Hortonā€™s without telling praise team van. Got variety of donuts and fresh coffee which helps make up for the fact that itā€™s a tad on the weak side. Texted praise team a picture of donut selection. Eating and drinking without shame.

Dizzy.

Talked to all three of my family members. I never go to NYC without A&M if I can help it. Miss them so much. Weā€™d shop until we had broken feet and had to soak them in the hotel bathtub. Miss my man, too. And Starzy and Geli. Talked to the dogs on the phone night before last. I think they are pouting at me. Didnā€™t say much.
Oh, and I forgot to tell you that on Sunday at the ranch, I stepped on a mesquite thorn. Went straight up through my shoe and into my foot. WAY INTO MY FOOT. Keith had to jerk it out. Three toes and top of foot fire engine red by next morning. Sore as heck. Told A&M about it and both of them swore I could get a staph infection and shamed me into calling doctor today. Have to take antibiotic. If, when I get up in the morning and go to the restroom, I look down and any of my toes are missing, Iā€™m to hobble straight to the hospital no matter what town Iā€™m in. The drama never ends.

Rich likes a variety of music. Just a few vocalists weā€™ve sung along with so far: Barry Manilow (he writes the songs that make the whole world sing), Olivia Newton John (she loves us. She honestly loves us. Sheā€™s not trying to make us uncomfortable. Not trying to make us anything at all), Dionne Warwick (she said a little prayer for us), Chris Tomlin (what a relief), the Eagles (good Bible lesson: you canā€™t hide your lyinā€™ eyes), Carly Simon (another good Bible lesson: youā€™re so vain. I bet you think this post is about you), and The Carpenters (good choice: Joseph was one).

12:30 PM ā€“ Driving past Hartford, Connecticut and waving to beat the band. Canā€™t wait to see you Friday!

Thinking about Delaware. DELAWARE. I can hardly believe we get to go there.

12:48 PM ā€“ Just saw sign. 98.6 miles to New York City.

1:03 PM ā€“ Just texted The Decoy and instructed our darling engaged couple to please go over their memory verses together. I feel theyā€™ve been unsupervised too long. (They are such a handsome couple they could be on the front of a magazine. Nate is our young stage manager and the biggest blast to ever love Jesus. Raised on the mission field in Africa. Cool to the bone. His bride-to-be, Shelly, is active in our blog community. Youā€™d know her if you saw her. If you were at the Siesta Fiesta, we mentioned that theyā€™d just gotten engaged and we made her come up front and get a door prize. Beautiful girl who also totally digs Jesus. Already faithfully serves Him.) They text me back their verses. Clearly they are taking them out of context. I ask them to pull the car over and let me in. They donā€™t. But they laugh.

1:04 PM ā€“ Bored stiff.

1:07 PM ā€“ Giving way to vain imaginations. Dwelling on the last time Keith hurt my feelings. Iā€™m getting madder by the minute. Why didnā€™t I get madder at the time?? Thinking what I shouldā€™ve said.

1:08 PM ā€“ Rich bored, too. Has now begun to sing really loud and off key (on purpose). Itā€™s so terrifying that Iā€™m startled out of my downward mental spiral.

1:09 PM ā€“ I love Keith so much. I wish heā€™d call me.

1:10 PM ā€“ Am now laughing hysterically at myself. Where is my medication? JK. Donā€™t write me about that.

I fear if I keep this up, I could risk digressing into the trivial (that even made me laugh) so Iā€™ll sign off for a while and catch you up on our thrilling day in the Big Apple later. At this rate, a LOT later. You are a patient people.

10:35 PM ā€“ Yes, that says 10:35 PM. HOURS have gone by, People. HOURS!!!! You are not going to believe this but when I got back to my car after our NYC shopping extravaganza my computer battery was as dead as a door nail (itā€™s one of those long-lasting ones so it shouldnā€™t have been) and, hence, I didnā€™t get to give you a play-by-play all the way to Delaware. I think God thought you guys had been through enough. Of course, at this point only 5 of you are still reading the post and you are all related to meā€¦and embarrassed for me.

SO, since God apparently got weary of my drivel, Iā€™ll limit my comments on the rest of the day to a couple of paragraphs:

Our feet hit the streets of Manhattan by about 2:30. I got a hotdog at one of those sidewalk vendors immediately because I just have to. Itā€™s not even good. Just necessary. Mustard and sweet relish. Then we grabbed some Starbucks and got focused. The team and I had no intention of wasting time at expensive stores. We wanted hip and CHEAP. So we hit a little boutique called ā€œStrawberryā€ and totally scored. Kinda fruity but not seedy. Some really cute stuff and just the right price. All of us girls got something there. Two of us got the exact same pair of boots ā€“ I do mean DARLING boots – that had been a hundred and something dollars and they were marked down to $56. I also got a gray sweater and aā€¦and aā€¦let me go look in my bagā€¦oh, yeah, a new pair of fuzzy slippers. Thatā€™s another story. Iā€™m obsessed with this one pair of fuzzy slippers Iā€™ve had a long time (I bring them on the road) and theyā€™re nearly worn out. I call them ā€œThe Pinksā€ because, well, theyā€™re pink. Iā€™ve been really upset because Iā€™ve known theyā€™re on their last leg. Or foot. And I havenā€™t known what to do. I wanted an exact replacement and couldnā€™t find them anywhere. Well, today I found some in black. The Black Pinks. Iā€™m so happy. I have them on right now. Especially after my thorn in the flesh.

The praise team and I then went to H&M and Zara. I did very minimal damage at either place but Trav, Seth, Stephen, and Nate made some fairly impressive investments in their personal wardrobes. I donā€™t think they call what they got ā€œoutfitsā€ but they should. Well coordinated if I do say so myself.

After walking somewhere around 43 miles, we were famished and decided to seek out a great little Chinese restaurant. The kind NYC is famous for. Well, we didnā€™t exactly find one. We found more the airport variety where you walk down a line with an orange tray and get your soy sauce and hot mustard in plastic packs you have to open with your teeth. Alas, we were too worn out to resist. Iā€™ll not name names but a character from Seinfeld was working the counter. She nearly scared me to death. I simply inquired with appropriate southern manners as to whether or not the Chow Mein was prepared with white meat. She yelled, ā€œYou having chicken broccoli!ā€ So I had chicken broccoli. It was pretty good but I didnā€™t eat much of it. Sheā€™d given me the nervous stomach. She ended up winning us over. You had to respect her work ethic. Move ’em in. Move ’em out.

And the team and I sat at eight tables for two and laughed and laughed and laughed and laughed and laughed. Duets were sung. Combo dinners shared. Pictures were taken. Delirious. So happy to be together. So happy to be in Jesus. He brings people together who would never have crossed paths. I cannot express to you how much I love these people.

And, then, we loaded up the vans and began our several-hour excursion to Delaware. Checked in and started writing to you. And now I’m about to drop in the bed. This very day weā€™ve been in ā€“ count ā€˜em ā€“ SEVEN States. And every mile worth it.

Oh, Delaware, we canā€™t wait to meet you. God of laughter, friendship, community, come receive Your praise. And, Lord, thank You for humoring us today. I hope at least once we really got You tickled.

Share

Some Eye Candy

From Rich and Gretchen’s wedding. So beautiful!

Share

On My Way Back Home!

Hey, Siestas! I have to type fast because I don’t have long before we board! I am now sitting in the A Terminal at the Nashville Airport getting ready to head back to Houston. The wedding was fabulous! Rich was so handsome and Gretchen was gorgeous. So glad to be getting married. The sweetest faces looking at one another you’ve ever seen. Really tender wedding. Girlfriends, let me tell you that IN MY LIFE I have never heard a preacher bring an exhortation to a bride and groom like theirs did. His name is Reverend Carter Crenshaw and I’m telling you he was up in their stuff. Leaned into them and looked them dead center in the eye while he told them what faithfulness meant. Nothing pre-canned about it. It was fantastic. PROFOUND. And with such a sweet heart. I saw him pat on Rich’s arm over and over. I thought to myself that every married person in that room needed a copy of that message. He was so good that Travis, Paige (another good friend of ours who was singing with Travis) and I couldn’t even cut up during the service. Not that in a million years we ever would have. After all, our good friend, Ron, who does security at the events, was looking straight at us and that alone makes us behave.

There was one funny thing though. We were sitting on a side pew by the piano and there was a little piece of shag carpet right in front of us about the size of a welcome mat. It had some kind of hole under it with air puffing up through it. The church was gorgeous church so I know it had a really important acoustical purpose of some kind. I just wasn’t familiar with it. Like a magic carpet of some kind. With every sound from the microphone or loud chord from the piano, it rose (fairly dramatically) then dropped like it was breathing. You can imagine it nearly did a flip when Travis hit some of his notes. I’m not kidding you. It reminded me of that really hairy dude on The Addams Family. What was his name? “Cousin It”? (I have to tell y’all that AJ edited that sentence for me because I told her on the way home in the car that it had occurred to me on the plane that it was the Addams family instead of The Muensters. BUT then it took Moose Mama to tell me that I had mistaken a kind of cheese for The Munsters. Laughing my head off. Are you sure you’re not from Wisconsin?)

I know I’m jumping here but, again, I only have a second. I’m not after the Nobel Peace Prize here. I’m just trying to blog. The reception was so great. Travis sang a Harry Connick Jr. song while Rich and Gretchen danced and it was so romantic! Now, Gretchen, that girl can shake a leg. (If anything I’m saying means anything bad, I don’t know it so forgive me.) She’s the one that taught me the Cha Cha Slide.

As I live and breathe, the woman at the Continental counter just called for passenger “Shoestrang” (yes, strang) to check in at the desk. I sure hope I get to see that dude. He may be really skinny though.

We’re boarding! Gotta go! Oh, and all five Cottrells did pick me up! I had the best time at their house!

No time to proof. You know what comes next…so deal.

I LOVE YOU!!

Share

On My Way to the Wedding!

Hey, Siestas! Well, I’m sitting right here in Terminal B at George Bush International in Houston, Texas about to head to Nashville, Tennessee to Rich’s wedding! Those of you who are not familiar with Rich may not realize he’s one of our all-time best Miestas. He’s the one who prepares all our slide shows from the events. Glance down a couple of posts and you’ll see a picture of him and his bride-to-be. My sweet, sweet relationship with that young man is one of those kinds of things only God could contruct. YEARS ago the event team at LifeWay realized they needed all hands on deck and could use somebody whose entire job at events was to get me where I needed to go. At that time, one of the event team members had a little brother (he seemed about 15 at the time but that’s a slight exaggeration) that was available for a little part time job. That was my dear Rich. I cannot even express what a fun friendship developed between a middle-aged Bible-beating woman and a young man still trying to figure a few things out.

I have watched Rich grow up. Laughed my head off with him. Prayed for him. Worried over him. Celebrated with him. Mothered him. Mothered him. And mothered him. (He’s got a fabulous mom. I’m just a maternal hormone waiting to happen so I’ll happily even mother the well-mothered.) Was around when he got serious about his first real Bible study. Was around when he first got his heart broken. Was around when his beloved grandmother went home to be with the Lord. Was around when God began to start making a photographer out of him. Was around when he first used the “L” word about a young woman named Gretchen. I nearly died. I knew he was serious when he DIDN’T tell me not to get overly excited about it.

I love this boy.

This man.

And his gorgeous, smart, godly bride. I so approve. Not that I had to – he was dead set on marrying her – but I’m blessed to say Rich would have wanted me to.

And I will have the privilege, along with my good buddy, Travis Cottrell, to be part of their wonderful, blessed wedding ceremony tomorrow. The Cottrells (all of them I hope) will pick me up at the airport and I’ll stay in their blast-of-a-home just like Trav stays in ours when he can.

I got a text from Rich early this morning. I just pulled my phone out and propped it on my lap so I can dictate it straight to you since it involves you. It says, “Thank you for your prayers from your family and siestas. This week God has put a calm on everything. He is so good.” Yes, Rich, He is. And He has so often been good to many of us through you.

If you heard my phone ding, that was Travis sending me a text. We’re getting pretty excited. They’re just about to call passengers on Flight 2474 to Nashville to board. I loved spending these few minutes in the airport with you. I hope the onions weren’t too strong on my Schlotzsky’s Medium Original.If this post seems a bit disjointed, I have stopped and started a lot while having the privilege to say hi to several people. And then I realized I had the continent’s biggest fleck of pepper between my front teeth. I hate myself.

Y’all know good and well I love you. No time to proof. Deal with it.

Share